Filming and story rights? $5 million. Top notch actor? $10 million. Visual effects team? $25 million. Creating a movie that takes viewers into another world? Not exactly priceless.
Everyone knows that to make a film, you need a fair bit of money. Many films in this day of age require a substantial amount of financing, especially those that have sense of magic and fantasy to them. So, Forbes have set out to find exactly how much money is being pumped into films, and have complied a list of the 20 most expensive films in cinematic history.
In order to find out the most expensive films out there, Forbes have only based it on production costs for each film, leaving aside additional costs such as marketing and post-production expenditure. The source of the list was IMDB and as a result some of the data hasn't been adjusted in accordance to inflation.
Fan favourites such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean'/i] and [i/]http://www.movienco.co.uk/sagas/harry-potter/[i]'Harry Potter' pop up in the list, as well an array of superhero and fantasy films. Will there be any surprise appearances that manage to creep into the top 20?
Disney, the money queen
There is no real surprise, however, that Disney is the studio with the most films on the list. With the likes of 'The Avengers' and 'The Lone Ranger' costing over 200 million US dollars, this has made Disney one of the biggest spenders in the industry.
With regards to directors, one name seems to like splashing out on his films. This name would belong to Gore Verbinski. Although the American director only has 10 films under his belt, a range of them appear in the list. There is no doubt that each film has had it's successes, however some of them haven't performed as well as first thought in the box office arena.
So, here it goes. The top 20 most expensive films of all time are as follows...
20 'The Lone Ranger'
Film link: 'The Lone Ranger'
Release date: July 2013
Director: Gore Verbinski
Budget: 215 million US dollars
19 'Oz the Great and Powerful'
Film link: 'Oz The Great and Powerful'
Release date: March 2013
Director: Sam Raimi
Budget: 215 million US dollars
18 'The Avengers'
Film link: 'The Avengers'
Release date: May 2012
Director: Joss Whedon
Budget: 220 million US dollars
17 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'
Film link: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'
Release date: June 2008
Director: Andrew Adamson
Budget: 225 million US dollars
16 'Man of Steel'
Film link: 'Man of Steel'
Release date: June 2013
Director: Zack Snyder
Budget: 225 million US dollars
15 'Men in Black 3'
Film link: 'Men in Black 3'
Release date: May 2012
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Budget: 225 million US dollars
14 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'
Film link: 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'
Release date: July 2007
Director: Gore Verbinski
Budget: 225 million US dollars
13'The Amazing Spiderman'
Film link: 'The Amazing Spiderman'
Release date: July 2012
Director: Marc Webb
Budget: 230 million US dollars
12 'Avatar'
Film link: 'Avatar'
Release date: December 2009
Director: James Cameron
Budget: 237 million US dollars
11 'Spectre'
Film link: 'Spectre'
Release date: October 2015
Director: Sam Mendes
Budget: 245 million US dollars
10'The Dark Knight Rises'
Film link: 'The Dark Knight Rises'
Release date: July 2012
Director: Christopher Nolan
Budget: 250 million US dollars
9 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'
Film link: 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'
Release date: December 2014
Director: Peter Jackson
Budget: 250 million US dollars
8 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'
Film link: 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice'
Release date: March 2016
Director: Zack Snyder
Budget: 250 million US dollars
7 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
Film link: 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
Release date: July 2009
Director: David Yates
Budget: 250 million US dollars
6 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'
Film link: 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'
Release date: April 2015
Director: Joss Whedon
Budget: 250 million US dollars
5'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Film link: 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
Release date: May 2011
Director: Rob Marshall
Budget: 250 million US dollars
4'Spider-Man 3'
Film link: 'Spider-Man 3'
Release date: May 2007
Director: Sam Raimi
Budget: 258 million US dollars
3 'Tangled'
Film link: 'Tangled'
Release date: November 2010
Director: Byron Howard
Budget: 260 million US dollars
2 'John Carter'
Film link: 'John Carter'
Release date: March 2012
Director: Andrew Stanton
Budget: 263.7 million US dollars
1 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'
Film link: 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'
Release date: May 2007
Director: Gore Verbinski
Budget: 300 million US dollars